Sally H. Clarke

Professor
— Ph.D., 1987,
Brown University

Contact

Biography

Research interests

My primary field of study is business and economic history. I take a broad view of business history, linking the study of business to public policy, the modern state, consumers, the rights of Americans, and to the general study of capitalism.

Courses taught

Business History, Innovation, Political Economy, Regulation, Corporations and Consumers, Behavioral Economics, and U.S. History since 1865.

HIS 350R •
Busn, Gov & Society: Hist Rsch

39950 •
Spring 2014
Meets
TTH 1100am-1230pm WEL 4.224

This course introduces students to the study of business in American history. The underlying topic of investigation concerns the various ways the fortunes of businesses have been connected to broader social issues or policies by state actors. Students will explore this topic in a series of short case studies. These topics may be framed as questions: Why has Silicon Valley proven so innovative? What does this region tell us about innovation among firms throughout the economy? Taking a longer look at business, how did business people transform their firms in the late 19th century? During the Great Depression, how did giant corporations figure in narratives of the economic calamity and how were narratives about businesses shaped by visual images? Looking at World War II and the postwar years (1946-65), in what ways did business take part in political debates on different topics such as labor relations or health care?

The course carries the writing flag and the independent inquiry flag. As such, students will engage in a number of short research projects designed to investigate business topics while also acquiring research skills. Students will be introduced to databases that they can use to conduct literature searches—to locate books and articles for various topics. Students will learn how to access different types of materials, such as databases on newspapers and periodicals; legal records; and statistical evidence. The last assignment is an independent research project of the student’s choosing (subject to my approval). The first few papers will be three or four pages in length. The last essay will be from six to ten pages in length.

Grading:

60% of a student’s grade will be based on short research papers; (each paper will count 15% each toward the student’s final grade)

25% of a student’s grade will be based on the final research project

15% of a student’s grade will be based on class discussion

Readings may include selections from the following:

Richard White, “Information, Markets, and Corruption: Transcontinental Railroads in the Gilded Age,” Journal of American History 90 (Jun., 2003): 19-43.

Douglas Sackman, Orange Empire.

Note: Sackman’s book is available through PCL as an electronic resource.

Kim Phillips-Fein, Invisible Hands.

AnnaLee Saxenian, Regional Advantage

Note: Saxenian’s book is available through PCL as an electronic resource.

HIS 350R •
Irrationality In Us Econ Hist

39560 •
Spring 2013
Meets
M 300pm-600pm MEZ 2.102

Are we as rational as we like to assume? New research from psychology, economics, history, and law finds human beings have acted irrationally in numerous situations. Students will sample historical research for such topics as marketing, discrimination, labor policies, and public policy. You and your classmates will consider questions such as how individuals employ mental short-cuts in their reasoning; why individuals have historically cared more about losses than gains; why the framing of an issue matters to how individuals respond; how overconfidence affects individuals’ decisions; and why managers headed down the wrong path have often escalated their actions rather than retreated.

Each student will write four essays of roughly four pages in length about the assigned readings. The papers will count for roughly 70 percent of a student’s final grade, and class discussion will count for the remaining 30 percent of a student’s grade.

Selected Readings:

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics for initiating the field of study of irrationality in the economy.)

Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational (A popular account of the new field of behavioral economics.)

Max Bazerman, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making (Bazerman examines irrationality and the nature of management in companies.)

Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New (Koehn examines the relationship between entrepreneurs and consumers.)

Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (Hirschman’s terms exit and voice have since become used to describe a variety of economic actions in politics, the economy, and other realms of social life.)

Thomas Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis (Sugrue’s work is important for outlining the historical causes of discrimination.)

HIS 365G •
Us Economic History Since 1880

39710 •
Spring 2013
Meets
TTH 1100am-1230pm CBA 4.344

American Capitalism, 1865-2000: A History of Innovation and Economic Rights

Tracing the history of the American economy from 1865 to 2000, this course is organized around three themes: 1) innovation; 2) economic rights; and 3) the role of the state. Students will examine sources of innovation in terms of the role played by entrepreneurs, efforts the state has made to foster innovation, and the role of corporate institutions. Economic rights concern problems of union recognition and discrimination in the job market. But the topic of economic rights also includes rights of companies in the marketplace and in negotiations with workers. Both the topic of innovation and economic rights leads you to the study of the role of the state. Scholars and the public at large have strikingly varied views about the proper role of the state in the economy. In this course, students will evaluate past experiences in order to arrive at their own assessment of the state’s impact on innovation and economic rights.

Grading: Three papers will count 75% of your final grade; class discussion will count 25% of your final grade. The three essays will each be four to five pages in length.

Readings: Possible readings include selections from the following books:

HIS 365G •
Us Economic History Since 1880

39585 •
Fall 2012
Meets
TTH 1100am-1230pm MEZ 2.210

“American Capitalism, 1865-2000: A History of Innovation and Economic Rights”

Tracing the history of the American economy from 1865 to 2000, I have organized this course around three themes: 1) innovation; 2) economic rights; and 3) the role of the state. Students will examine sources of innovation in terms of the role played by entrepreneurs, efforts the state has made to foster innovation, and the role of corporate institutions. Economic rights concern problems of union recognition and discrimination in the job market. But the topic of economic rights also includes rights of companies in the marketplace and in negotiations with workers. Both the topic of innovation and economic rights leads you to the study of the role of the state. Scholars and the public at large have strikingly varied views about the proper role of the state in the economy. In this course, students will evaluate past experiences in order to arrive at their own assessment of the state’s impact on innovation and economic rights.

Grading: Three papers will count 75% of your final grade; class discussion will count 25% of your final grade. The three essays will each be four to five pages in length.

HIS 365G •
Us Economic History Since 1880

39587 •
Fall 2012
Meets
TTH 200pm-330pm CBA 4.332

“American Capitalism, 1865-2000: A History of Innovation and Economic Rights”

Tracing the history of the American economy from 1865 to 2000, I have organized this course around three themes: 1) innovation; 2) economic rights; and 3) the role of the state. Students will examine sources of innovation in terms of the role played by entrepreneurs, efforts the state has made to foster innovation, and the role of corporate institutions. Economic rights concern problems of union recognition and discrimination in the job market. But the topic of economic rights also includes rights of companies in the marketplace and in negotiations with workers. Both the topic of innovation and economic rights leads you to the study of the role of the state. Scholars and the public at large have strikingly varied views about the proper role of the state in the economy. In this course, students will evaluate past experiences in order to arrive at their own assessment of the state’s impact on innovation and economic rights.

Grading: Three papers will count 75% of your final grade; class discussion will count 25% of your final grade. The three essays will each be four to five pages in length.

HIS 350R •
Irrationality In Us Econ Hist

39420 •
Fall 2011
Meets
M 300pm-600pm GAR 0.120

We like to think we are rational in making economic decisions, but new research from psychology, history, law, and economics finds human beings often have acted irrationally. Students will sample this research for such topics as advertising, marketing, discrimination, labor policies, financial bubbles, corporate fraud, and public policy. Students will read some books by behavioral economists, such as Professor Dan Ariely’s best-selling book, Predictably Irrational, and Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein’s book, Nudge. It is important for students to keep in mind that they will also read historical accounts of topics such as welfare capitalism, early marketing tactics, and Enron’s collapse.

Each student will write four short essays of roughly three to four pages in length about the assigned readings. The papers will count for roughly 40 percent of a student’s final grade. Class discussion will count for 35 percent of a student’s final grade. Students will also write a research paper of roughly 12 to 15 pages in length; this paper will count for 25 percent of a student’s final grade.

Selected Readings:

Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational

Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New

Thomas Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis

Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal

Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge

Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool

Robert Shiller, Irrational Exuberance

Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, The Smartest Guys in the Room

This course partially fulfills the legislative requirement for American history.

HIS 365G •
Us Economic History Since 1880

39555 •
Fall 2011
Meets
TTH 1100am-1230pm PAR 303

This course treats the history of the United States since 1865 from an economic perspective. As such one theme for the course is innovation. For some, this may simply mean entrepreneurship, but for other students of the economy innovation has become a complex subject and there are many facets to the process of economic creativity. A second theme examines the dynamic shifts in the economic rights of Americans since the Civil War. Students may be familiar with some topics that relate to this theme, such as sharecropping. We also will consider the segregation of jobs along gender lines and the coming of federal efforts to prohibit discrimination in jobs and in other areas of Americans’ lives, such as access to credit. A third theme concerns the role of the federal government. Opinions range widely on the proper role the government ought to play in our capitalist economy. This course offers empirical information about the government’s historical actions with regard to innovation and economic rights.

While I will present material in lectures and you will read a variety of perspectives on economic development, I want to encourage you to develop your own perspective for assessing the American-style capitalism from roughly 1865 to 2000.

Grading: 4 papers will count roughly 75% of your final grade; class discussion will count 25% of your final grade. The first paper will be two to three pages in length. The last three essays will each be four to five pages in length.

Readings: Selections will be made from the following books:

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England

Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis

David Von Drehle, Triangle: The Fire that Changed America

Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal

Alice Kessler-Harris, Out to Work

Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis

AnnaLee Saxenian, Regional Advantage

This course partially fulfills the legislative requirement for American history.

HIS 317L •
Rights In Modern America

39465 •
Spring 2011
Meets
MWF 900am-1000am MEZ 1.120

This course explores the history of rights in modern America. One theme is civil rights, but the course also introduces students to other topics such as censorship, product liability, abortion rights, discrimination, human rights abuses, and environmental rights. Students will consider reforms of the Progressive Era, the 1930s, and the 1960s. They will consider rights under wartime conditions, including World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. They will read and debate important court rulings, such as Roe v. Wade (1973) and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978).

Readings: I will put together a collection of primary documents. In addition students will read Supreme Court rulings. Among secondary publications, possible readings include:

Colin Calloway, Our Hearts Fell to the Ground

J. Samuel Walker, Prompt & Utter Destruction

Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism

David Howard-Pitney, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and the

Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s

Richard Castillo and Richard Garcia, Cesar Chavez

James Olson and Randy Roberts, My Lai

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Assignments: Students will be asked to write three papers, which will each count 25 percent; class discussion will count 25 percent.

HIS 350R •
Innovation In Us Economy

39730 •
Spring 2011
Meets
M 300pm-600pm PAR 103

This course examines creativity in the US economy, primarily during the period since 1865. Students will assess major innovations associated with the evolution of the economy, such as the development of branding and the coming of the computer industry. Students will also examine different models or frameworks through which to view innovation. One model is the entrepreneur, but scholars have developed other frameworks such as networks of innovation, the role of intermediaries, the presence of technological clusters, and the contributions of government liaisons.

Students will write 6 papers, each of three to four pages in length. Papers will count for roughly 66 percent of a student’s final grade; class discussion will count for 34 percent of a student’s grade.

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice,” Science 211 (January 1981): 453-58: Note: read only page 453. Available through utcat, see instructions under item 17.

The following are available on electronic reserves, see instructions under item 6: Alfred P. Sloan, My Years with General Motors, selected pages; Thomas Frank, Conquest of Cool, selected pages; and VW advertisements.

Marketing Campaigns, 649-652, available on electronic reserves, see instructions under item 6; William D. Baue, “Spuds MacKenzie Campaign,” Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, 82-86, available on electronic reserves, see instructions under item 6; Nicholas Ind, “BMW of North America,” Great Advertising Campaigns, 127-140, available on electronic reserves, see instructions under item 6; Robert F. Hartley, “Miller Beer: Transferring Marketing Muscle to the Brewing Industry,” Marketing Successes, 121-134, available on electronic reserves, see item 6.

Business Leaders Exposed (Catalyst, 2005), pp. 1-35, www.catalyst.org. To locate item, google Catalyst and the title: Women Take Care, Men Take Charge. You will be taken to a page with a Download pdf link in the left side of the page. Claire Cain Miller, “Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley,” New York Times (April 18, 2010): Sunday Business Section, available online: google author’s name, title, New York Times and date. Alice H. Eagly and Steven J. Karau, “Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice Toward Female Leaders,” Psychological Review 109 (2002): 573-98: Note: just read the following pages 573-76, and section “Do People Have a Less Favorable Attitude Toward Women…” pp. 579-81 and “Possibilities for Change,” pp. 590-91, see instructions under item 15.

10 11/3 Nova PBS program “Mind over Money” to be shown at 4pm for class on

1) Goals: This course explores the notion of irrationality in the U.S. economy. Irrationality is most associated with a new field in economics called behavioral economics. Behavioral economists have employed concepts from psychology to study offbeat topics in economics, such as marketing, fairness, corporate fraud, financial bubbles, and social norms as compared to market norms. As a history course, students will read materials that introduce the economists’ studies but also include historians’ treatment of subjects as well. Students are encouraged to compare the scholarship of historians and economists.

2) As a seminar, this course depends on your efforts to read the assignments carefully. For each week, please complete all assigned pages by the start of class.

3) Grades: You are required to write six short (three- to four-page) essays. Each essay counts for 11 percent of your final grade, or a total of 66% of your final grade. Class participation counts for 34% of your final grade. You are required to attend class and take part in discussions. Final grades will include plus and minuses.

4) Papers: All students will write six essays and each essay will be three or four pages in length (double spaced). Papers are due for the particular week in which we discuss the assignment. The papers are due at the start of class. For example, a paper about public policy and the book Nudge will be due on September 20 at the start of class. Please note that all students must write the first paper for September 20 and revise the paper for September 27. After the first paper, students are free to select the weeks in which they will write essays subject to the constraint that they must complete essays by the weeks noted on the syllabus. Students must write at least two essays by week 6, October 4; three essays by week 8, October 18; four essays by week 9, October 25; five essays by week 12, November 15; and six essays by week 13, November 22. Rewritten essays are due the last week, November 29.

Your papers should be well written and well organized. The essays should provide a succinct statement of the author’s intentions or thesis or main argument. Then the essay should comment on or criticize the author’s study. Criticism can take many different forms. A student can criticize the author’s argument (disagree with the author); find fault with the author’s use of sources; reflect on new insights or unintended consequences that follow from the author’s analysis. A student may also reflect on the book’s title or evaluate a key concept, such as anchoring, that the author uses in framing his or her study. As we read more books, you may also write essays comparing a current author’s work with a previous reading assignment. It is important to keep in mind that I am not looking for a summary of the book. Any summary should be kept to a few sentences. I am interested in your critical view of the assigned material. You should title your paper. It is okay to print double-sided. Please staple the pages. Margins should be one-inch. Please use 12-point font. The paper should be double-spaced. Papers are due at the start of class. Students sometimes write a paper about the short assignments. This is okay, but I would like most of your essays to focus on the longer assignments from the individual books. You are not permitted to conduct personal interviews for your papers.

5) Rewrites: Students may rewrite one of their papers. The rewritten paper is due by November 29 in class. You may turn in a rewritten essay well in advance of this deadline and I encourage you to rewrite a paper soon after the first version is returned to you. If a student rewrites a paper, then the grade for the revised essay will replace the original grade. Please note: students are not permitted to delay writing a paper and turn it in as a rewritten essay

6) Copies of books will be placed on PCL Reserves. Articles and chapters may be available through electronic reserves. For electronic reserves, go to the main library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. On the left side of the screen, click the link for accessing electronic reserves. You can search by instructor under my name, Clarke. A few titles will appear and you will want this course for this semester. The password will be given out in class.

7) Class participation: Students are required to attend class and to participate in discussions. Class discussion counts for 34 percent of each student’s final grade. Please note: Failure to attend class will result in a grade of 0 (F) for that particular week. I am serious about this penalty. Missing class can quickly lower your class participation grade and your final grade.

To encourage class participation, I require that all students email me by 2 pm on the day of class with one or two questions about the assigned readings for each week of the semester. My email address is sclarke@austin.utexas.edu. We will address some or all of the questions during our class discussions. In addition, you may also highlight a particular passage in a book that caught your attention.

Students often ask how class discussion grades are assigned. Simply coming to class is not sufficient to earn a high mark. Part of the grade will be based on the questions you submit. A critical part of the grade is your active participation in terms of thoughtful comments that probe the assigned readings. (I am not looking for random comments about current issues, but rather comments that focus on the assigned readings. Those comments may reflect on current events but they must demonstrate a careful understanding of the readings.)

8) Students are responsible for all material covered in class, including any changes made to the syllabus during class.

9) To pass the course, students must complete all six essays.

10) Required books will be available on PCL reserves, as noted, and also at the University Coop. In case you want to buy your books through a different vendor, here are the titles and related information.

11) Please turn off all electronic devices in class, including cell phones and laptops. I don’t mean set your cell phone to vibrate. It is important to turn the cell phones off so that there isn’t that distraction. We will take a break about half way through the class so you can check your cell phones then. Also, please do not leave class and return during the middle of discussions.

12) To access the JAMA essays, go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. In the upper left side of the screen, click the journals icon for the type of catalog search. In the blank for electronic journals, type JAMA. Select JAMA from the list of journals. Click American Medical Association Journals (Highwire). Click 1991 and then click December 11. Scroll down to “Brand Logo…” and select Full Text PDF. Do the same for the next article “RJR Nabisco’s Cartoon…”

13) Students with disabilities may need special accommodations. Please see me early in the semester if you require accommodations. You may also contact the Division of Diversity and Community engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259, or at http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/

14) To locate the law review articles, you will want to visit the LexisNexis web site. Go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Then under “Research Tools,” select “Find Articles Using Databases.” There is an alphabetical listing and you want to select L and then select LexisNexis Academic. With the LexisNexis homepage open, look on the left side of the page and select US Legal and then select Law Reviews. On the Law Reviews page, there will be a few boxes to fill in. In the blank box, write the title of the article: Taking Behavioralism Seriously and change the box that says “Everywhere” to title. In the next blank box write the name: Hanson and change the box that says “Everywhere” to author. Under Specific Date, choose “the date is between” and type for dates the years: 1/1/1998 and 1/1/2000. Then click the search button. The articles will appear on the screen. Click on the article title and in the upper right corner you will find a print icon.

15) To locate the article by Alice Eagly and Steven J. Karau, go to the library’s home page, www.lib.utexas.edu. Click journals for the type of catalog search on the upper left side of the screen. Type psychological review and hit search. Scroll down and select Psychological Review. Select PsycARTICLES (EBSCO). Select 2002 on the right side of the page and then select vol. 109, issue 3. Select page 2, item 17. Click the link for PDF full text.

16) To access the article by Daniel Kahneman, Jack Knetsch, and Richard Thaler, follow these instructions. Go to the main library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Under Research Tools, select “Find Articles Using Databases.” Look at the alphabetical listing and under “J” select JSTOR. Click Advanced Search. In the blank box, type the author’s name and next to this box change the text that reads “full text” to “author.” In the blank box, type: Kahneman. Next to the blank box, change “full-text” to “author.” Under “Limit to:” click article; under dates, type from: 1985 and to: 1987. Under Title, type: American Economic Review. Then click the search button. One article will appear entitled “Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking.” You can view it as a pdf file. At the top of the page on the left side is the print icon.

17) To locate the Tversky and Kahneman article in Science, go to the main library web site, www.lib.utexas.edu. On the upper left side of the screen click the icon for Journals. For electronic journals, type: Science. A long list of journal options will appear organized alphabetically. The first list goes to Gra so click “next set of titles”; again click “next set of titles.” Then select Rev-Sci. Select JSTOR Life Sciences Collection and click on link for 1980-1989. Click link for no. 4481 (January 30, 1981). Click PDF for Tversky and Kahneman.

18) No prior courses in History or other subjects are required for this course.

19) The UT policy regarding religious holidays permits students to be absent from class on holy days. Should you be absent because of a religious holy day and should this day fall on a date that a paper is due, please notify me 14 days in advance of your absence. You then will be allowed to turn in the assignment at another time.

20) The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in FAC, is open to students. You are encouraged to have the staff at this center review drafts of your papers. You may also ask me to review an outline or a draft.

Read: Margaret Graham and Bettye H. Pruitt, R&D for Industry: A Century of

Technical Innovation at Alcoa, pp. 157-188 ** reading is in two parts on electronic reserves under item 9; Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth, pp. 206-208, available on electronic reserves under item 9; Alan P. Loeb, “Birth of the Kettering Doctrine: Fordism, Sloanism and the Discovery of Tetraethyl Lead,” Business and Economic History 24 (Fall 1995): 72-87, available on-line, see instructions under item 19.

1. Goals: I have four goals for the course. First, I would like you to develop concepts for thinking about the process of economic growth and economic rights. Some concepts are well known, like mass production or the welfare state; others are not so obvious but are frequently used to describe economic activity, such as “creative-destruction” or “social costs.”

As a second goal, I want to cover a few different themes. Since the focus is the development of the economy, one theme concerns innovation. For some, this may simply mean entrepreneurship, but for others innovation has become a complex subject and there are many facets to the process of economic creativity. A second theme examines the shifts in the economic rights of Americans since the Civil War. Students may be familiar with some topics that relate to this theme, such as sharecropping. We also will consider the segregation of jobs along gender lines and the coming of federal efforts to prohibit discrimination in jobs and in other areas of Americans’ lives, such as access to credit. A third theme concerns the role of the federal government. Opinions range widely on the proper role the government ought to play in our capitalist economy. This course offers empirical information about the government’s historical actions with regard to innovation and economic rights.

This brings me to a third goal for the course. While I will present material in lectures and you will read a variety of perspectives on economic development, I want to encourage you to develop your own perspective for assessing the US economy from roughly 1865 to 2000. The paper topics are designed to encourage you to develop your own viewpoint and you should read these paper topics carefully to determine whether you want to take this course.

As a fourth goal, I want to provide you with some resources so as to aid you in continuing to explore economic topics from a historical perspective. Some resources are quantitative in nature (see note 12); others concern the concepts you will develop; and still other resources will be the perspectives you acquire concerning critical questions about the history of American-style capitalism.

2. Readings: You are asked to complete a reading assignment by the start of class for each date listed. For example, you are asked to read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations by the start of class on August 31 and you should complete the assigned pages in Engels’ The Condition of the Working Class in England by the start of class on September 2. You need to finish the reading before class so that we can discuss the material during class.

Attendance in class for any day where there is a reading assignment or a paper due is required. I have marked these days with an asterisk (*) following the date. You may miss three classes without penalty. After three missed classes, you will receive a 0 (F) for the next time you miss a required class meeting.

3. Grading: 80% of a student’s grade will be based on four essays; 20% of a student’s grade will be based on class participation. There is no final exam.

For the four papers, the first paper will count for 14% of a student’s final grade and the next three papers each will count for 22% of a student’s final grade. The final grade for the course will be a grade with pluses and minuses.

4. Please note: You may rewrite one of your first three papers. If you rewrite the paper then the revised paper’s grade will replace the original paper’s grade. You are not permitted to delay turning in the original paper and submitting it as a rewritten paper. All revised essays are due by November 23 in class. You are free to turn in a rewritten paper before this deadline and I encourage you to rewrite a paper soon after it is returned to you.

5. In order to pass the course you must complete all four essays. Note: the first paper will be turned in on September 9 for peer review; the revised version is due on September 14. I will grade the revised paper.

6. Late papers will be penalized half a letter grade for each day the paper is overdue.

7. The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in FAC, is open to students. You are encouraged to have the staff at this center review drafts of your papers.

8. I do not require previous courses in any discipline. There are some technical terms, but we will review them and they should be mastered readily.

9. Some articles or sections of books will be available on electronic reserves. To locate items for electronic reserves, go to the main library homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu, and on the left hand side of the screen click on the link to accessing electronic reserves. You can search for the course through my last name, Clarke (under instructor), and select this course. The password will be given out in class.

10. Books are available on PCL reserves. Unfortunately, the library reserve policy limits the number of copies placed on reserve to one copy of each book per course. You may find extra copies in the stacks for many of the books. If you check out a copy of Engels’s book, be sure to get the Oxford edition from 1993 or 1999. There is no textbook for the course. If you want to read a general textbook, an excellent book to consult is Michael Stoff, et al., Nation of Nations. There are many editions of this textbook available in the stacks of PCL.

Articles are available on electronic reserves or JSTOR.

In case you want to buy your books through a different vendor than the University Coop, here is the relevant information about the books

Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; reissued 1999. CN: HD 8389 E5 1999

11. Schumpeter’s article is available on-line at JSTOR. Here are instructions.

Go to the UT Library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu.

Under Research Tools, click on “Find Articles Using Databases.”

Click J under the alphabetical listings and then select JSTOR

Click Advanced Search.

In the blank box, type: Schumpeter. Next to the blank box, change “full-text” to “author.” Under “Limit to:” click article; under dates, type from: 1947 and to: 1947. Under Title, type: Journal of Economic History.

Then click the search button.

One article will appear entitled “The Creative Response in Economic History.” You can view it as a pdf file. At the top of the page on the left side is the print icon.

12. Quantitative Evidence: You may find helpful some quantitative evidence available on-line from the following sources.

Historical Statistics of the United States: The Millennial Edition Online

Note: This site may be restricted. You may need to first go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu, and under Research Tools, select “Find Articles Using Databases.” Under the alphabetical listing, select H. Then under the H listing of titles, scroll down to Historical Statistics of the United States: the Millennial Edition Online.

The Economic Report of the President – provides data about the economy going back roughly 30 to 50 years. This source may be of particular interest for the last paper.

(The last time I checked the calculator was on the right side of the screen.)

13. Students are responsible for all material covered in class, including any changes made to the syllabus during class.

14. All electronic devices must be turned off during class, including cell phones and laptops. I don’t mean set your cell phone to vibrate; I ask that the cell phones be switched to off. Please do no get up and leave and return in the middle of class.

15. If you miss class, please get notes from another student. I am happy to discuss material with you during office hours. For your four papers, I am also happy to go over an outline for your papers. The best time to do this is during my office hours.

16. Students with disabilities may require special accommodations. If you need accommodations, please see me at the start of the semester. You may also contact the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259, or at http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/. UT is committed to helping students with disabilities, so please ask for help at the beginning of the semester.

17. Assignment for September 15, 2009: consult statistical series in Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition Online. I would like you to examine a few statistical series about changes in Americans’ material wellbeing. You will need to go to the online version of Historical Statistics (instructions are given under item 12). Then you can use the search button, located in the upper left hand side of the home page, to search for these topics and statistical series. Alternatively, you can also find the statistical series by following the contents on the lower left hand side of the home page. The chapters correspond to the series numbers. For example, series Ca9-Ca14 will be found in part C, chapter Ca.

I would like you to examine and print out copies of the following statistical series:

#1. Gross Domestic Product, 1790-2002, series Ca9-Ca14.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of the goods and services produced inside the US on an annual basis. As GDP increases, it follows that more goods and services are available for consumption; hence, Americans’ wellbeing as measured by material goods improves. What changes do you see looking at Series Ca9, Real GDP, and Series Ca11 Real GDP per capita for the time period 1865 to 2000 and for the time period 1865 to 1915? (Real means that the GDP has been adjusted for changes in prices, such as inflation.)

#2. Expectation of Life at birth, by sex and race: 1850-1998, series Ab644-655

The series reports changes in life expectancy for the US population and breaks down the series by sex and for white and African American groups. What changes do you see from 1865 to 1998 and from 1865 to 1915?

Also examine Series Ab929-951 Death rate, by Cause: 1900-1998.

#3. Work Hours – consider two series: Average weekly hours worked in manufacturing, 1890-1926, Series Ba4568, and Average Weekly hours of workers in private, nonagricultural jobs: 1900-1986, Series Ba4575

You will notice that work hours have declined since 1890. How would you describe the decline in hours? Do you consider the decline significant from 1890 to 1986 or from 1890 to 1915?

#4. Home Ownership rates, by race and nativity of household head: 1900-1997, Series Ad740-743. What sort of changes in home ownership do you detect during the 20th century? Do you consider the changes significant or not?

#5. Education – consider two series (1) School enrollment rates, by sex and race: 1850-1994, especially series Bc438-440, and (2) Public and private high school graduates, by sex and as a percentage of all 17-year-olds: 1870-1997, especially series Bc264 What changes do you detect in education over the course of the 20th century? Were there important changes between 1865 and 1915?

** Remember to print copies of the tables and bring them to class. **

18. The UT policy regarding religious holidays permits students to be absent from class on holy days. Should you be absent because of a religious holy day and should this day fall on a date that a paper is due, please notify me 14 days in advance of your absence. You then will be allowed to turn in the assignment at another time.

19. To find the article by Alan P. Loeb, google the Business History Conference, and go to the organization’s home page. On the right side of the page, click on the link for Print BEH Archives. Click on the link for v. 24, no. 1, 1995. Scroll down to the article by Loeb, “Birth of the Kettering Doctrine.” Click to view as PDF. A print icon is in the upper left corner of the screen.

20. There are four paper assignments. The first assignment asks you to compare two of the authors—Adam Smith, Friedrich Engels, or Joseph Schumpeter. This paper will be two to three pages in length. The next three papers ask you to evaluate the performance of the U.S. economy in specific time periods. Your essays should address the questions of innovation, economic rights, and the role of the state. Each of these essays will be four to six pages in length.

6 2/22 Paper due at the start of class; World War I 2/2 The world of Consumption: autos case study 2/2 Discussion: Advertising in the 1920s and early 1930s; short quiz read: Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, chapter 7, “The Great Parables,” available on electronic reserves. See below item 16. Nation of Nations, chapter 23 and 24.

7 3/1 The Onset of the Great Depression 3/3 A New Deal Legacy 3/5 Discussion: The New Deal; short quiz read: David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, chap., 12, pp. 363-380; available on electronic reserves; see instructions under item 16. M. Johnson, Reading the American Past, # 24-4, pages 177-181. Nation of Nations, chap. 25.

10 3/22 Paper due at the start of class; African Americans during the interwar years 3/24 World War II 3/26 Discussion: World War II; Extra Credit Quiz read: Michael Johnson, Reading the American Past, # 25-2, 25-3, and 25-4, pages 189-204. Nation of Nations, chapter 26.

1. Overview: The purpose of the course is to offer an introduction to the history of the United States since 1865. Because time is limited, students will concentrate on a few different topics. One important topic concerns the rights of Americans as they have changed over time. The course begins with Reconstruction which treats the new rights of African Americans living in the South. Subsequent weeks concern the rights of workers and women as well as the civil rights movement in the years after World War II. A second topic examines the growth of the federal government, including the nature of the presidency during the 20th century. This topic receives particular attention for the Progressive era and the Great Depression, but it is also relevant to the 1960s. A third topic concerns the development of the economy and the welfare of Americans.

2) Grades: You are required to write three essays. Each essay counts for 25 percent of your final grade, or a total of 75% of your final grade. Class participation counts for 25% of your final grade. You are required to attend class and take part in discussions. Final grades will include plus and minuses.

3) Copies of books will be placed on PCL Reserves.

4) Class participation: Students are required to attend class on Fridays, the day of discussions, and to participate in discussions. Class discussion counts for 25 percent of each student’s final grade. You may miss three class discussions without a penalty. After those three missed days, failure to attend class will result in a grade of 0 (F) for that particular week. I am serious about this penalty. Missing class can quickly lower your class participation grade and your final grade. As part of class discussion grades, I will give short quizzes. The quizzes are meant to determine whether or not you have read the assignment, but are not the sole factor in your class discussion grade. Comments made about the readings are important for your class discussion grade. Note: On March 26, there will be an extra credit quiz.

5) Students are responsible for all material covered in class, including any changes made to the syllabus during class.

6) To pass the course, students must complete all three essays.

7) Please turn off all electronic devices in class, including cell phones and laptops. I don’t mean set your cell phone to vibrate. It is important to turn the cell phones off so that there isn’t that distraction. Also, please do not leave class and return during the middle of discussions.

8) Required books will be available on PCL reserves, as noted, and also at the University Coop. In case you want to buy your books through a different vendor, here are the titles and related information.

9) Students with disabilities may need special accommodations. Please see me early in the semester if you require accommodations. You may also contact the Division of Diversity and Community engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.

10) No prior courses in History or other subjects are required for this course.

11) Paper Guidelines: Papers should be double-spaced, use 12-point font, and have one-inch margins. The papers should be three to four pages in length. The pages should be numbered. You will need to title your papers. It is okay to print a paper double-sided so as to save on paper. Please staple the pages together.

Papers must be given to me in class at the start of class on the due date. I do not accept papers as email attachments.

12) Citations for Papers. Students must provide complete citations for information in their papers. If you quote an author, you need to cite the article or book and give the page or pages for the quotation. Or, if you refer to a general argument or idea developed by an author, such as Von Drehle’s argument about sweatshops, you need to cite the author. For the readings, you may use an abbreviated method of citation. At the end of the sentence, you will need to give the author’s last name and the page or range of pages for the information. For example: (Von Drehle, 12). If you cite a source not on the syllabus, then you need to provide a complete footnote, including the author’s first and last names, the title of the book, the place of publication, the publisher, the date of publication and the range of pages cited. If the outside source is an article, then you need to cite the author’s first and last names, the title of the article, the journal’s title, the date, and the range of pages. If you visit a web site, then you must provide a footnote with the complete URL and the date that you visited the site. You are not permitted to conduct personal interviews for your papers. To cite lectures, refer to the lecture and the date at the end of the sentence, as in (lecture, 1/22/10). Be careful in citing book titles. They should be underlined or italicized. Chapter titles should be set off in quotation marks.

13) Late papers will be penalized half a letter grade for each day the paper is overdue.

14) If you miss class, please get notes from another student. I am happy to discuss material with you during office hours. For your papers, I am also happy to go over an outline for your papers. The best time to do this is during my office hours.

15) The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in FAC, is open to students. You are encouraged to have the staff at this center review drafts of your papers.

16) Some readings are available on electronic reserves. To locate these items, go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu, and click on the link for accessing electronic reserves on the lower left side of the screen. Then search for my name, Clarke, under instructor and select this course. The password will be given out in class.

Documentary “Taken for a Ride” watch before class for discussion in class.

** You must complete four papers by week 11. **

12 4/12 Who benefits from innovation? Historical Statistics of the United States – see instructions under item 15.Elizabeth Warren, Teresa A. Sullivan, and Jay Lawrence Westbrook, “Less Stigma or More Financial Distress,” Stanford Law Review 59 (November 2006): 213-256. Available on LexisNexis Academic; see instructions below item 14.

13 4/19 Environment and entrepreneurship Tom Szaky, Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business; Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism, chapter 1, pp. 1-21—available on electronic reserves; see instructions under item 6. Ken Belson, “No Grit and No Noxious Fumes in This Foundry,” New York Times (April 30, 2009), p. 4, available on-line. Google title of article, New York Times, and the date; Steve Lohr, “Powerful Systems Bring Efficiencies to Roads, Rail, Water and Food Distribution,” New York Times (April 30, 2009), pp. 1 and 7, available on-line. Google title of article, New York Times, and date.

** You must complete five papers by week 13. **

14 4/26 Innovation and public policy, I Thomas McCraw, Prophets of Regulation, chapters 5-8, 153-311. Alan Olmstead and Paul Rhode, “An Impossible Undertaking: The Eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis in the United States,” Journal of Economic History 64 (September 2004): 734-772, available on JSTOR, see instructions under item 12.

1) Goals: The primary objective is to offer an introduction to the scholarship about innovation in the US economy. Students will read about innovation in terms of different topics, such as railroads, the modern corporation, computers, and the environment. But students will also consider different models or frameworks for thinking about innovation, including entrepreneurship, networks of innovation, intermediaries, and the government as a promoter of innovation.

2) As a seminar, this course depends on your efforts to read the assignments carefully. For each week, please complete all assigned pages by the start of class.

3) Grades: You are required to write six short (three- to four-page) essays. Each essay counts for 11 percent of your final grade, or a total of 66% of your final grade. Class participation counts for 34% of your final grade. You are required to attend class and take part in discussions. Final grades will include plus and minuses.

4) Papers: All students will write six essays and each essay will be three or four pages in length (double spaced). Papers are due for the particular week in which we discuss the assignment. The papers are due at the start of class. For example, a paper about Millard’s study of Edison will be due on February 8 at the start of class. Students are free to select the weeks in which they will write essays, but there are a few constraints. Please note: Students must write at least one essay by week 4: February 15. A second essay is due by week 7: March 8. A third paper is due the 10th week, or March 29. A fourth paper is due by week 11 or April 5. Your fifth paper is due week 13, or April 19. All six papers are due by week 14, April 26. Your papers should be well written and well organized. The essays should provide a succinct statement of the author’s intentions or thesis or main argument. Then the essay should comment on or criticize the author’s study. Criticism can take many different forms. A student can criticize the author’s argument (disagree with the author); find fault with the author’s use of sources; reflect on new insights or unintended consequences that follow from the author’s analysis. A student may also reflect on the book’s title or evaluate a key concept, such as entrepreneurs, that the author uses in framing his or her study. As we read more books, you may also write essays comparing a current author’s work with a previous reading assignment. For example, you may consider how two authors use the word “innovation.” It is important to keep in mind that I am not looking for a summary of the book. Any summary should be kept to a few sentences. I am interested in your critical view of the assigned material. You should title your paper. It is okay to print double-sided. Please staple the pages. Margins should be one-inch. Please use 12-point font. The paper should be double-spaced. Students sometimes write a paper about the short assignments. This is okay, but I would like most of your essays to focus on the longer assignments from the individual books. You are not permitted to conduct personal interviews for your papers.

5) Rewrites: Students may rewrite one of their papers. The rewritten paper is due by April 26 in class. You may turn in a rewritten essay well in advance of this deadline and I encourage you to rewrite a paper soon after the first version is returned to you. If a student rewrites a paper, then the grade for the revised essay will replace the original grade. Please note: students are not permitted to delay writing a paper and turn it in as a rewritten essay.

6) Copies of books will be placed on PCL Reserves. Articles and chapters may be available through electronic reserves. For electronic reserves, go to the main library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. On the left side of the screen, click the link for accessing electronic reserves. You can search by instructor under my name, Clarke. A few titles will appear and you will want this course for this semester. The password will be given out in class.

7) Class participation: Students are required to attend class and to participate in discussions. Class discussion counts for 34 percent of each student’s final grade. Please note: Failure to attend class will result in a grade of 0 (F) for that particular week. I am serious about this penalty. Missing class can quickly lower your class participation grade and your final grade. To encourage class participation, I require that all students email me by 2 pm on the day of class with one or two questions about the assigned readings for each week of the semester. My email address is sclarke@austin.utexas.edu. We will address some or all of the questions during our class discussions. In addition, you may also highlight a particular passage in a book that caught your attention. Students often ask how class discussion grades are assigned. Simply coming to class is not sufficient to earn a high mark. Part of the grade will be based on the questions you submit. A critical part of the grade is your active participation in terms of thoughtful comments that probe the assigned readings. (I am not looking for random comments about current issues, but rather comments that focus on the assigned readings. Those comments may reflect on current events but they must demonstrate a careful understanding of the readings.)

8) Students are responsible for all material covered in class, including any changes made to the syllabus during class.

9) To pass the course, students must complete all six essays.

10) Required books will be available on PCL reserves, as noted, and also at the University Coop. In case you want to buy your books through a different vendor, here are the titles and related information.

Andre Millard, Edison and the Business of Innovation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

11) Please turn off all electronic devices in class, including cell phones and laptops. I don’t mean set your cell phone to vibrate. It is important to turn the cell phones off so that there isn’t that distraction. We will take a break about half way through the class so you can check your cell phones then. Also, please do not leave class and return during the middle of discussions.

12) Accessing JSTOR for assigned articles. Go to the main library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Under Research Tools, select “Find Articles Using Databases.” Look at the alphabetical listing and under “J” select JSTOR. Click Advanced Search. In the blank box, type the author’s name and next to this box change the text that reads “full text” to “author.” In the blank box, type: Schumpeter. Next to the blank box, change “full-text” to “author.” Under “Limit to:” click article; under dates, type from: 1947 and to: 1947. Under Title, type: Journal of Economic History. Then click the search button. One article will appear entitled “The Creative Response in Economic History.” You can view it as a pdf file. At the top of the page on the left side is the print icon. For the essay by Paul Rhode and Alan Olmstead, type one of the author’s names in the blank box, as in : Rhode. Next to the blank box, change “full-text” to author. Under “Limit to” click article; under dates, type from: 2004 to: 2004. Under Title, type: Journal of Economic History. Then click the search button. The article “An Impossible Undertaking” should appear and you can view it as a pdf file.

13) Students with disabilities may need special accommodations. Please see me early in the semester if you require accommodations. You may also contact the Division of Diversity and Community engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.

14) To locate the law review articles, you will want to visit the LexisNexis web site. Go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Then under “Research Tools,” select “Find Articles Using Databases.” There is an alphabetical listing and you want to select L and then select LexisNexis Academic. With the LexisNexis homepage open, look in the upper left hand corner of the page and select Legal. On the Legal page, there will be a few boxes to fill in. For the box, Title of Article, write the title and for the box, Title of Journal, write the journal title, and for the Author box, type one author’s name. Then click the search button. For example, for week 9, for the box on the article title, type: The Legal Infrastructure of High Technology Industrial Districts. For Journal, type: New York University Law Review. For author, type: Ronald J. Gilson. For week 12, the article title should read: Less Stigma or More Financial Distress. The journal title is: Stanford Law Review. And for an author, type: Elizabeth Warren.

15) Historical Statistics of the United States. To access Historical Statistics, go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Under Research Topics, select “Find Articles using Databases.” There will be an alphabetical listing of databases. Under H, scroll down and select Historical Statistics of the United States: the Millennial Edition Online. On the homepage for Historical Statistics, you will see on the left hand side a list of contents with five categories. Within each part are subsections with data series. For example, series Ca9-Ca14 is for part C, chapter Ca. The series Ca9-Ca14 covers data on Gross Domestic Product. Please browse the web site to locate information for the following 12 series. You can view the material as a PDF file and print the file.Series Be27-29: Distribution of income among taxpaying unitsSeries Dh327-338: Attendance at selected professional sportsSeries Dh354-365: Attendance at NCAA basketball and football gamesSeries Ab644-655: Expectation of life at birth, by sex and raceSeries Ad740-743: Home ownership rates, by race and nativity of household headSeries Df330-338: Automobile ownership and financingSeries Dg117-130: Radio and televisionSeries Bd17-32: Per capita health expenditures, by typeSeries Bd536-558: Cancer Survival RatesSeries Bd306-317: Persons covered by health insurance, by sex, race and Hispanic originSeries Cf197-202: Concentrations of air pollutantsSeries Cf203-210: Emissions of air pollutants and carbon dioxide You should browse the web site to look for other measures on how Americans have benefited from innovation.

16) No prior courses in History or other subjects are required for this course.

17) The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in FAC, is open to students. You are encouraged to have the staff at this center review drafts of your papers. You may also ask me to review an outline or a draft.

** You must have completed six essays by week 13 ** ** If you choose to rewrite an essay, it is due November 23 in class. **

14 11/30 Nature (one more time), Environmental Justice, and the semester wrap-up William Cronon, ed., Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, pp. 23-56, 69-90, 204-217, 298-320. Available through JSTOR; see instructions under item 12. William Cronon, “The Uses of Environmental History,” Environmental History Review (1993): 1-20; available through JSTOR. See instructions below under item 12.

Course Instructions and Requirements:1) Goals. There are three general goals for this course. First, I want to offer an introduction to the field of environmental history. There are many exciting books and articles and you will sample a wide range of scholarship. One implication of this exercise is to allow you to reflect on whether we should revise standard treatments of episodes in US history after including the environment as a critical part of these episodes. Put another way, we can ask: does the explicit inclusion of the environment change our interpretation of standard historical topics, such as the settlement of colonialists or reform in the Progressive era? Second, you will consider how the environment has been shaped by human institutions, especially capitalism. Third, you will examine some environmental subjects irrespective of what are the typically “important” topics in American history. For example, natural disasters are not usually covered in much detail in surveys of U.S. history, but this course devotes one of its 12 weeks of readings to natural disasters. Another week examines the history of oranges in California.

2) As a seminar, this course depends on your efforts to read the assignments carefully. For each week, please complete all assigned pages by the start of class. For example, on October 5, please come to class having read Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis, chapters 2, 3, and 5, and the essay by Raymond Williams.

3) Grades: You are required to write six short (three- to four-page) essays. Each essay counts for 11 percent of your final grade, or a total of 66% of your final grade. Class participation counts for 34% of your final grade. You are required to attend class and take part in discussions. Final grades will include plus and minuses.

4) Papers: All students will write six essays and each essay will be three or four pages in length (double spaced). Papers are due for the particular week in which we discuss the assignment. The papers are due at the start of class. For example, a paper about Crosby’s The Columbian Exchange will be due on September 14 at the start of class. Students are free to select the weeks in which they will write essays, but there are a few constraints. Please note: Students must write at least two essays by week 6: October 5. (That means having turned in at least one essay by September 28 and another by October 5.) Students must write at least four essays by week 10: November 2. All six papers are due by week 13, November 23. Your papers should be well written and well organized. The essays should provide a succinct statement of the author’s intentions or thesis or main argument. Then the essay should comment on or criticize the author’s study. Criticism can take many different forms. A student can criticize the author’s argument (disagree with the author); find fault with the author’s use of sources; reflect on new insights or unintended consequences that follow from the author’s analysis. A student may also reflect on the book’s title or evaluate a key concept, such as capitalism, that the author uses in framing his or her study. As we read more books, you may also write essays comparing a current author’s work with a previous reading assignment. For example, you might compare how two authors use the seemingly straightforward word, “nature.” It is important to keep in mind that I am not looking for a summary of the book. Any summary should be kept to a few sentences. I am interested in your critical view of the assigned material. You should title your paper. It is okay to print double-sided. Please staple the pages. Margins should be one-inch. Students sometimes write a paper about the short assignments from Steinberg’s Down to Earth. This is okay, but I would like most of your essays to focus on the longer assignment from the individual books. You are not permitted to conduct personal interviews for your papers.

5) Rewrites: Students may rewrite one of their papers. The rewritten paper is due by November 23 in class. You may turn in a rewritten essay well in advance of this deadline and I encourage you to rewrite a paper soon after the first version is returned to you. If a student rewrites a paper, then the grade for the revised essay will replace the original grade. Please note: students are not permitted to delay writing a paper and turn it in as a rewritten essay.

6) Copies of books will be placed on PCL Reserves. Articles, notably the essay by Raymond Williams, will be placed on electronic reserves, or are available through J-Stor. For electronic reserves, go to the main library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. On the left side of the screen, click the link for accessing electronic reserves. You can search by instructor under my name, Clarke. A few titles will appear and you will want this course for this semester. The password will be given out in class.

7) Class participation: Students are required to attend class and to participate in discussions. Class discussion counts for 34 percent of each student’s final grade. Please note: Failure to attend class will result in a grade of 0 (F) for that particular week. I am serious about this penalty. Missing class can quickly lower your class participation grade and your final grade. To encourage class participation, I require that all students come to class with one or two questions about the assigned readings for each week of the semester. We will address some or all of the questions during our class discussions. In addition, you may also highlight a particular passage in a book that caught your attention. Students often ask how class discussion grades are assigned. Simply coming to class is not sufficient to earn a high mark. Part of the grade will be based on the questions you bring to class. A critical part of the grade is your active participation in terms of thoughtful comments that probe the assigned readings. (I am not looking for random comments about current environmental issues, but rather comments that focus on the assigned readings. Those comments may reflect on current events but they must demonstrate a careful understanding of the readings.)

8) Students are responsible for all material covered in class, including any changes made to the syllabus during class.

9) To pass the course, students must complete all six essays.

10) Please turn off all electronic devices in class, including cell phones and laptops. I don’t mean set your cell phone to vibrate. It is important to turn the cell phones off so that there isn’t that distraction. We will take a break about half way through the class so you can check your cell phones then. Also, please do not leave class and return during the middle of discussions.

11) Required books will be available on PCL reserves, as noted, and also at the University Coop. In case you want to buy your books through a different vendor, here are the titles and related information.

Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).** Please remember to buy the second edition **Alfred Crosby. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, reprinting, 30th anniversary edition, 2003.William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of NewEngland. NY: Hill and Wang, 1983; 2003.Henry David Thoreau. Walden, or Life in the Woods. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997; reissued 2008.William Cronon. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York: Norton, 1991. Note: Cronon’s book is being used in other courses and may be shelved in a different location at the University Coop.Alice Hamilton. Exploring the Dangerous Trades: The Autobiography of Alice Hamilton. Boston: Little, Brown, 1943.Douglas Cazaux Sackman. Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005.Theodore Steinberg. Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America. 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ** Remember to get the second edition. **Rachel Carson, Silent Spring. New York: Mariner Books, 1962.Daniel Yergin. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.Van Jones. The Green-Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. New York: HarperOne, 2008.Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. New York:HarperCollins, 2007.William Cronon, ed., Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York: Norton & Company, 1996.

12) Accessing JSTOR for assigned articles. Go to the main library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Under Research Tools, select “Find Articles Using Databases.” Look at the alphabetical listing and under “J” select JSTOR. Click Advanced Search. In the blank box, type the author’s name and next to this box change the text that reads “full text” to “author.” For example, for week 14, you will type: William Cronon and change full text to author. Under “Limit to,” select article. For “Date Range,” type the year that the article was published. For example, for the Cronon article type: from 1993 to 1993. Under title, type the name of the journal. The title of the journal is Environmental History Review. The item will appear and you can view it by selecting the pdf file. Then the print button is on the upper left side of the screen.

13) For week 11, you are asked to review statistics about the environment. You can do so by going to Historical Statistics of the United States. Go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu. Under Research Topics, select “Find Articles using Databases.” There will be an alphabetical listing of databases. Under H, scroll down and select Historical Statistics of the United States: the Millennial Edition Online. On the homepage for Historical Statistics, you will see on the left hand side a contents with five categories. Click on Section C, Economic Structure and Performance. Then select the chapter Cf – Geography and the Environment. There will be a list of tables with historical data related to the environment. Each table is identified by an alphanumeric series number. I’d like you to examine trends in the data for the following series: Table Cf177-182 about environmental expenditures; Table Cf197-202 on air pollution; Table Cf211-216 on solid waste; and Table Cf236-237 on oil spills. You may also want to consider other tables.

14) My email address is sclarke@austin.utexas.edu. In addition, you can leave a phone message at 475 7241 or have a note placed in my mailbox by going to Garrison 1.104. You can also send a fax at 475 7222. Thanks!

15) Students with disabilities may need special accommodations. Please see me early in the semester if you require accommodations. You may also contact the Division of Diversity and Community engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.

16) No prior courses in History or other subjects are required for this course.

17) The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in FAC, is open to students. You are encouraged to have the staff at this center review drafts of your papers. You may also ask me to review an outline or a draft.

1. Goals: I have four goals for the course. First, I would like you to develop concepts for thinking about the process of economic growth and economic rights. Some concepts are well known, like mass production or the welfare state; others are not so obvious but are frequently used to describe economic activity, such as “creative-destruction” or “social costs.” As a second goal, I want to cover a few different themes. Since the focus is the development of the economy, one theme concerns innovation. For some, this may simply mean entrepreneurship, but for others innovation has become a complex subject and there are many facets to the process of economic creativity. A second theme examines the shifts in the economic rights of Americans since the Civil War. Students may be familiar with some topics that relate to this theme, such as sharecropping. We also will consider the segregation of jobs along gender lines and the coming of federal efforts to prohibit discrimination in jobs and in other areas of Americans’ lives, such as access to credit. A third theme concerns the role of the federal government. Opinions range widely on the proper role the government ought to play in our capitalist economy. This course offers empirical information about the government’s historical actions with regard to innovation and economic rights. This brings me to a third goal for the course. While I will present material in lectures and you will read a variety of perspectives on economic development, I want to encourage you to develop your own perspective for assessing the US economy from roughly 1865 to 2000. The paper topics are designed to encourage you to develop your own viewpoint and you should read these paper topics carefully to determine whether you want to take this course. As a fourth goal, I want to provide you with some resources so as to aid you in continuing to explore economic topics from a historical perspective. Some resources are quantitative in nature (see note 12); others concern the concepts you will develop; and still other resources will be the perspectives you acquire concerning critical questions about the history of American-style capitalism.

2. Readings: You are asked to complete a reading assignment by the start of class for each date listed. For example, you are asked to read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations by the start of class on September 1 and you should complete the assigned pages in Engels’ The Condition of the Working Class in England by the start of class on September 3. You need to finish the reading before class so that we can discuss the material during class. Attendance in class for any day where there is a reading assignment or a paper due is required. I have marked these days with an asterisk (*) following the date. You may miss three classes without penalty. After three missed classes, you will receive a 0 (F) for the next time you miss a required class meeting.

3. Grading: 80% of a student’s grade will be based on four essays; 20% of a student’s grade will be based on class participation. There is no final exam. For the four papers, the first paper will count for 14% of a student’s final grade and the next three papers each will count for 22% of a student’s final grade. The final grade for the course will be a grade with pluses and minuses.

4. Please note: You may rewrite one of your first three papers. If you rewrite the paper then the revised paper’s grade will replace the original paper’s grade. You are not permitted to delay turning in the original paper and submitting it as a rewritten paper. All revised essays are due by November 24 in class. You are free to turn in a rewritten paper before this deadline and I encourage you to rewrite a paper soon after it is returned to you.

5. In order to pass the course you must complete all four essays.

6. Late papers will be penalized half a letter grade for each day the paper is overdue.

7. The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in FAC, is open to students. You are encouraged to have the staff at this center review drafts of your papers.

8. I do not require previous courses in any discipline. There are some technical terms, but we will review them and they should be mastered readily.

9. Some articles or sections of books will be available on electronic reserves. To locate items for electronic reserves, go to the main library homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu, and on the left hand side of the screen click on the link to accessing electronic reserves. You can search for the course through my last name, Clarke (under instructor), and select this course. The password will be given out in class.

10. Books are available on PCL reserves. Unfortunately, the library reserve policy limits the number of copies placed on reserve to one copy of each book per course. You may find extra copies in the stacks for many of the books. If you check out a copy of Engels’s book, be sure to get the Oxford edition from 1993 or 1999. There is no textbook for the course. If you want to read a general textbook, an excellent book to consult is Michael Stoff, et al., Nation of Nations. There are many editions of this textbook available in the stacks of PCL. Articles are available on electronic reserves or JSTOR. In case you want to buy your books through a different vendor than the University Coop, here is the relevant information about the books:

Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; reissued 1999.William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis. New York: Norton, 1991. (This book is also assigned in other courses and so may be shelved at a different location at the Coop.)David Von Drehle, Triangle: The Fire that Changed America. New York: Grove Press, 2003.Russell Baker, Growing Up. New York: Signet, 1982.Thomas J. Sugrue. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.AnnaLee Saxenian, Regional Advantage. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

11. Schumpeter’s article is available on-line at JSTOR. Here are instructions.Go to the UT Library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu.Under Research Tools, click on “Find Articles Using Databases.”Click J under the alphabetical listings and then select JSTORClick Advanced Search.In the blank box, type: Schumpeter. Next to the blank box, change “full-text” to “author.” Under “Limit to:” click article; under dates, type from: 1947 and to: 1947. Under Title, type: Journal of Economic History.Then click the search button. One article will appear entitled “The Creative Response in Economic History.” You can view it as a pdf file. At the top of the page on the left side is the print icon.

12. Quantitative Evidence: You may find helpful some quantitative evidence available on-line from the following sources.Historical Statistics of the United States: The Millennial Edition Onlinehttp://hsus.cambridge.org/HSUSWeb/HSUSEntryServletNote: This site may be restricted. You may need to first go to the library’s homepage, www.lib.utexas.edu, and under Research Tools, select “Find Articles Using Databases.” Under the alphabetical listing, select H. Then under the H listing of titles, scroll down to Historical Statistics of the United States: the Millennial Edition Online.

The Economic Report of the President – provides data about the economy going back roughly 30 to 50 years. This source may be of particular interest for the last paper.http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/

Federal Reserve, Minneapolis – A historical calculator for adjusting historical prices to current (2009) dollars. See:http://www.minneapolisfed.org/(The last time I checked the calculator was on the right side of the screen.)

13. Students are responsible for all material covered in class, including any changes made to the syllabus during class.

14. All electronic devices must be turned off during class, including cell phones and laptops. I don’t mean set your cell phone to vibrate; I ask that the cell phones be switched to off. Please do no get up and leave and return in the middle of class.

15. If you miss class, please get notes from another student. I am happy to discuss material with you during office hours. For your four papers, I am also happy to go over an outline for your papers. The best time to do this is during my office hours.

16. Students with disabilities may require special accommodations. If you need accommodations, please see me at the start of the semester. You may also contact the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259. UT is committed to helping students with disabilities, so please ask for help at the beginning of the semester.

17. Assignment for September 15, 2009: consult statistical series in Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition Online. I would like you to examine a few statistical series about changes in Americans’ material wellbeing. You will need to go to the online version of Historical Statistics (instructions are given under item 12). Then you can use the search button, located in the upper left hand side of the home page, to search for these topics and statistical series. Alternatively, you can also find the statistical series by following the contents on the lower left hand side of the home page. The chapters correspond to the series numbers. For example, series Ca9-Ca14 will be found in part C, chapter Ca. I would like you to examine and print out copies of the following statistical series:#1. Gross Domestic Product, 1790-2002, series Ca9-Ca14. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of the goods and services produced inside the US on an annual basis. As GDP increases, it follows that more goods and services are available for consumption; hence, Americans’ wellbeing as measured by material goods improves. What changes do you see looking at Series Ca9, Real GDP, and Series Ca11 Real GDP per capita for the time period 1865 to 2000 and for the time period 1865 to 1915? (Real means that the GDP has been adjusted for changes in prices, such as inflation.)#2. Expectation of Life at birth, by sex and race: 1850-1998, series Ab644-655 The series reports changes in life expectancy for the US population and breaks down the series by sex and for white and African American groups. What changes do you see from 1865 to 1998 and from 1865 to 1915? Also examine Series Ab929-951 Death rate, by Cause: 1900-1998.#3. Work Hours – consider two series: Average weekly hours worked in manufacturing, 1890-1926, Series Ba4568, and Average Weekly hours of workers in private, nonagricultural jobs: 1900-1986, Series Ba4575 You will notice that work hours have declined since 1890. How would you describe the decline in hours? Do you consider the decline significant from 1890 to 1986 or from 1890 to 1915?#4. Home Ownership rates, by race and nativity of household head: 1900-1997, Series Ad740-743. What sort of changes in home ownership do you detect during the 20th century? Do you consider the changes significant or not?#5. Education – consider two series (1) School enrollment rates, by sex and race: 1850-1994, especially series Bc438-440, and (2) Public and private high school graduates, by sex and as a percentage of all 17-year-olds: 1870-1997, especially series Bc264 What changes do you detect in education over the course of the 20th century? Were there important changes between 1865 and 1915?** Remember to print copies of the tables and bring them to class. **

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